


Flight of the Rogue

by AntonioCC



Series: To Be a Hero [4]
Category: Justice Society of America (Comics), The Flash (TV 2014), X-Men Evolution
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-04-22 00:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14296314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntonioCC/pseuds/AntonioCC
Summary: Things starts to go off script for Rogue after her powers kick in, sending her to an uncertain destiny.





	1. Events Derailed

_**Flight of the Rogue** _

_**Chapter One: Events Derailed** _

  
**Disclaimer:**  all characters are property of their respective owners.  
  
**Spoilers:**  big spoilers for X-Men: Evolution season 1 episode "Rogue Recruit"  
  
**Author Note:**  this version of Rogue and other X-Men related characters are from the X-Men Evolution cartoon, although with elements taken from teh comics. Other Marvel, DC and Wildstorm character that may appear are drawn from several sources. Also, this is set in the same universe as my story "To be a Hero: Family"  
  
**A/N 2:**  I would appreciate feedback on the story, on how could be improved, or things that I have gotten wrong.  
  


* * *

 

_Three days ago_

  
Rogue ran to her home, or at least tried to, before realizing that this was the way to  _Cody's_  house.   
  
_'Oh, Gawd, what is happening to me?'_  she thought as a torrent of memories that felt like her own tried to drown her. Memories from Cody, the boy who she had kissed... and nearly killed with that kiss. Somehow she managed to push them away as she ran to her home, to Irene, the woman who had been like a mother to her. She was about to ring the doorbell when Irene opened the door.   
  
"Come in, Rogue. We have to talk." Irene said, looking at her with her sightless eyes.  
  
Rogue gulped but she nodded, before crossing the doorstep and as Irene closed the door, she grabbed her hand, to Rogue's surprise.  
  
"Irene!? No!" Rogue said, feeling how she was starting to drain the older woman.  
  
"Sorry Rogue... but this... is the... only.... way..." Irene said, fainting as she said the last word, and Rogue started to scream as she started to get assaulted by the memories of Irene, as well as a number of strange images.  
  
She let go of the older woman hand as she fell down on her knees. If Cody's memories had been difficult to put aside, Irene's were almost overwhelming. As she stood the assault of memories from the older woman, she came to realize a few things about Irene and herself, pieced together from what Irene knew. Although it wasn't until the images started to vanish, when she could start to think on those realizations.  
  
She was a mutant, with the power to absorb memories and powers of other mutants by mere touch. And what was more important right now, she had to get out of town post-haste. She hadn't got all what Irene knew, but she had learned that people were coming for her, and she didn't want to deal with other mutants or with anti-mutant terrorists until she got a hold on her powers and herself.  
  
Looking around, she noticed a backpack on the dining room table. When she went to examine it, she saw that most of her clothes were there, as well as enough money to last her for a while. Silently she thanked Irene, as she took some clothes to cover almost every expanse of exposed skin and took the backpack with her.  
  
She moved Irene, slowly as the older woman was a bit taller than her, and left her sitting in her favorite armchair, still unconscious. She knelt beside the armchair, looking at Irene, thinking of something to say, but nothing came to mind.  
  
"See yah, Irene... Ah hope" she simply said, getting out of the house in silence and going to the nearby bus stop. A bus stopped shortly afterwards and Rogue boarded it, lost in thought. As the bus left the town, she didn't notice the car that entered town, going directly toward Irene's home.

  
/\

  
Mystique, in the guise she always used when she visited this town, parked her rental car in front of the home of her old friend, Irene Adler. She was worried; Irene had called her half an hour ago, telling her to come to talk to her before trying to recruit Marie. She had left Sabretooth, Toad and Avalanche with instructions to distract the X-Men... and now Irene wasn't answering the phone.  
  
She stood before the door, steeling herself for whatever could she find and then opened the door with her key. To her relief, Irene was there, trying to stand up.  
  
"Irene, what happened? Why did you call me?" Mystique asked "Where is Marie?"  
  
"We must go, Raven. We are not safe here." Irene said, still wobbly on her feet, "I'll tell you everything on the way."  
  
"Irene, Where... is... Marie?" Mystique repeated, fearing that her friend and former lover's wits had been addled.  
  
"I send her away." Irene said, looking at her with a grim expression, "I'll explain later, we must go! NOW!"  
  
They quickly got into the car, just in time as two black vans appeared on both sides of the street. As she started the car, the vans maneuvered to block her way in front and behind.  
  
"Fuck it!" Mystique said under her breath as she put the car in the highest gear, pushed the gas pedal to the max and turned the wheel to cross the garden of the house, just as the side doors of the vans slide open and men in black commando gear carrying submachine guns jumped out of it.  
  
Mystique and Irene put their heads down as the car was peppered with bullets. Fortunately none of them hit the two women as Mystique steered the car, blindly trying to get away until the car fell into the Mississippi.   
  
The head of the commando force took his radio and opened a channel.  
  
"Sir, two of the targets fell into the river." The man said.   
  
"Who?" answered their boss.  
  
"The seer and the shapeshifter. Their ward seems to have disappeared after draining a local teen to an inch of his life." The man explained.  
  
"Search on the riverside. The shapeshifter have survived worse." The boss said, "And remember, I want that bitch alive!"  
  
"Yes, sir!" the man said, adding as a farewell, "Humanity forever!"

  
/\

  
Mystique got Irene out of the water and practice mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to her. Soon, she was coughing out the water she had swallowed escaping the car, and it was no long before she could stand.  
  
"We are not safe yet. They are probably patrolling the riverside to see if they can spot..." Mystique started to say.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, smurfette." A voice said, as several men clad in black appeared around them, aiming their weapons at them. He then stepped into view, revealing a well-built blonde man in his late thirties, clad in the same commando gear than the rest of his fellows. He looked at them and smirked.  
  
"You know, the boss has said that he wants the blue bitch alive, but he said nothing of the old bat." He said, aiming his sub-machinegun to Irene. "For the matter he didn't say the blueberry had to be unharmed." He added, before pulling the trigger in his weapon.  
  
The bullet exited the cannon and stopped in mid air, the commandos stood there dumbfounded for a moment before their weapons were jerked away from their hands by some invisible force. The weapons floated over then, their shape twisting until they reformed into manacles, which put themselves on their arms. They only had a moment to look at them before they, except for the man who had fired, were removed from the scene by that same invisible force.  
  
Then, a man clad in a red and black bodysuit, wearing a purple cape and wearing a strange helmet that obscured his face descended from high.  
  
"Hello, Magneto." Mystique said "Don't tell me, Sabretooth called as soon as I was gone."  
  
"Yes." Magneto said bluntly, before explaining, "You can be erratic on occasions, Mystique, especially when family is involved." He then turned to the man. "Do you know who I am, human?"  
  
"Just another abomination against God's plan. And a kike, to boot." And he spit on his face "We'll clean your filth from the face of the Earth."  
  
Magneto cleaned the spittle from his face and looked at the man with a bemused expression.  
  
"Some things never change." He said, before his expression become hard. "Who do you work for?"  
  
To his surprise the man laughed.  
  
"Do your worst, mutie." The man said "You'll never make me talk!"  
  
"Useless." Magneto said, flicking his wrist and throwing him toward the others. He then turned to face Mystique.  
  
"Mystique, you were supposed to recruit your adopted daughter for the Brotherhood, now that he has discovered her mutant powers." He said, "What has changed?"  
  
"Everything, Erik." Irene said, before Mystique could say anything, "I saw a new timeline, shortly after I saw the original one." she paused for a moment, before adding, "Believe me, letting her go will do a lot more good than recruit her."   
  
"Hmmph... We'll see." Magneto said, hovering there for a moment before reaching a decision, "I'll let her go away... for the moment." He added before he flew away.  
  
"But what did you see in her future, Destiny." Mystique asked, once Magneto was well out of earshot.  
  
"Thunder and lightning." Irene answered cryptically.

  
_A bus going North, somewhere in Mississippi_

Marie, or Rogue, that was the name she liked more, anyway, waited until they had left the town well behind to check the backpack that Irene had left her. She had already noticed the clothes and the money, now she found a few bags of her favorite snacks and a letter.  
  
She took the letter gingerly and looked it over. It was written by Irene, no doubt, her precise and elegant handwriting was impossible to mistake with anyone else. She had asked once how did she manage to write so well being blind, Irene had smiled mysteriously and answered  _'Practice.'_  Of course now she knew the truth, she was using her powers to cheat.  
  
Sighing, she started to read the letter. After a greeting Irene launched into a condensed description of mutants and the X-Gene, as well as talking about herself and her own powers.

  
_"...and that's how we came to this situation. I knew that you were a mutant, but I really didn't expect that your power would manifest when you kissed that boy, or myself having in that same moment two visions of your possible future back to back._

I won't say what would have happened to you in the other future, only that it wasn't pretty for you. I warn you, though, that I'm not infallible, so it may still come to pass. I hope that it doesn't, and I can say to you that I saw you finding happiness, as well as a point in the future where your choice of words will tip the balance on one side or another.

More immediately, though, you are being chased by people wanting to kill you by the 'crime' of being a mutant. That's why I did what I did, taking this decision for you. If we had more time, I would have explained what was going on, but we hadn't. I'm sending you to people that will protect you from them, but the path that you have to follow it's unclear, except for the first step."

  
According to the letter she had to get to Central City tomorrow, and look in a post office box, the key was in one of the pockets of the backpack, to get another letter with more instructions. She was torn between following Irene's instructions or not, but in the end she decided to follow this first step at least, and from there, she'll see what to do.

The rest of the letter contained a few instructions and a post-script.

  
_"P.S.: Marie, or Rogue, as you probably have already come to call yourself, there is something else. Every power you absorb will linger in you, fading over time. That means that you may receive some visions in the next days. In that case write them down, and, please, give it to me next we'll meet in person._

P.P.S.: Check that it's me in that case!"

_'As if.'_  She thought. She had a few hours until the bus arrived to its destination, and the events of the day had taken a toll in her. She secured the backpack, so that they'd had to wake her to steal it, and set the alarm on her Smartphone. She bundled herself and closed her eyes, soon she felt herself slipping into dreamland.

  
_...Blood, blood everywhere. He was bleeding out, in her arms, as champions were being pushed back by an unrelenting tide of dead flesh and living metal..._  
__  
_...She was in another place, a city bordering a river and saw an explosion from downtown, which prompted the clouds to unleash a storm over the city. A lightning fell in a close building..._  
__  
_...She was elsewhere again... space? She was seeing Earth against a backdrop of stars, and a dark figure holding the world in its right hand, a hand covered by a golden gauntlet with six glowing gems..._  
__  
_...She was with a group, but she could only see the others dimly. A man in a dark armor stood before her. And behind him, giant robots decorated similarly to the armor..._  
__  
_...A blonde girl fighting creatures out of a nightmare as the ground cracked open and skeletal hands appeared on the cracks..._  
_  
_ _...A blonde girl with a cape was floating in the air before her. The vision wasn't clear enough to allow her to distinguish her features or what she was wearing. She found herself nodding and lifting herself from the ground..._

  
She awoke. Checking the hour, it had been less than two hours since she had set the alarm. And frankly, she didn't want to fall asleep again. Instead, she started to write in her phone what she had seen.

  
_Elsewhere_

  
"You failed." The head of the anti-mutant group said.  
  
"Yes, sir." The head of the commandos answered. "We didn't anticipate that the magnokinetic could be close."  
  
The shapeshifter had escaped his grasp once again, and in his opinion it was the fault of the man in front of him. He forced himself to take a deep breath and sit back on the chair.  
  
"Did you at least get the samples?" he said.  
  
"Yes, sir." Said the man "We brought them to Doctor Trask, as we were ordered.”  
  
"At least it wasn't a complete waste." The boss commented "Get out of here, Trent."  
  
**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Tornado Shelter**

**Disclaimer:**  all characters are property of their respective owners.

 **Spoilers:**  big spoilers for X-Men: Evolution season 1 episode "Rogue Recruit". Big spoilers for CW's The Flash season 1.

 **Author Note:**  this version of Rogue and other X-Men related characters are from the X-Men Evolution cartoon, although with elements taken from the comics. Flash-related characters comes from CW's The Flash. Other Marvel, DC and Wildstorm character that may appear are drawn from several sources.

 **A/N 2:**  I would appreciate feedback on the story, on how could be improved, or things that I have gotten wrong.

* * *

_Central City Post Office. The next day._

 

Rogue was nervous. The night had been quite restless, having finally fallen asleep after boarding the second bus... and awakening like twenty minutes later. The sequence of events had repeated several times for the whole voyage, fortunately without more cryptic visions of the future, until the bus finally arrived to Central City mid-morning, after a couple other bus changes.

With the money that Irene had left her, there was more than enough for a taxi to carry her to the Post Office to see if Irene's letter had arrived to the box she had mentioned. And when she opened the box, there was no one but two letters, a big, thick manila envelope, and an smaller white envelope with a note to open first.

Inside the smaller envelope there was another key, as well as a unused envelope, stamps and instructions to send the key she just had used to open the box to another P.O. Box in Midway City.

 _'Does she keep P.O. Boxes in every major city?'_  she wondered as she did what she had asked. The memories that she had gained from Irene, while almost completely faded by now, seemed to indicate that yes, she did.

Shaking her head, she went and opened the Manila envelope. Inside it there was a list of addresses, fake IDs for her (according to them she was now Anne Raven, 18 years old, from Brandon, Mississippi), and another list of instructions. Basically, she had to stay in the city until tomorrow night, and then pick a train to Topeka, Kansas, where the P. O. Box that corresponded to the new key was located, and she would give her the final instructions, emphasizing that she didn't have to follow them if she didn't want, but that it would be better in the long run.

 _'Well, at least I have almost two days to decide if I want to go.'_  Rogue thought while checking the list of addresses. There was a number of lodging places, a few shops, including an indie music shop she intended to check out later, and a mall for more general purchases.

She called a taxi and went to the first place in the list. It was an old motel that looked quite nice, if a bit worn, but the guy in charge gave her the creeps. Then, the second one was more of a bed and breakfast place, and it looked cozier than the motel, and somewhat newer than the others than she went later, even if the owner, a stern-looking woman in her early 60s that insisted that everybody called her Ma Hunkel, had looked at her a bit askance.

After visiting the others and not being convinced by them, she had ended choosing Ma's place, and after leaving her things in her room, she went to the music place that Irene had told her. It was a small shop located between two ugly apartment buildings, packed to the gills. Behind the desk there was a guy who looked straight out of a punk band.

She waved at him and started to browse the shelves. She picked a couple CDs and an imported DVD of a Japanese band she followed. When she came back to the desk she found that there was already a tall white guy with glasses and a look that screamed 'professor' to her.

"I'll see what I can find, but at best it would be a low quality analog recording, Professor Wells." The shop guy said.

"Even if that's the case, I would buy it. I have spent centuries looking for that recording." Professor Wells said, who then looked at her, and gestured her to come to the desk. "Come here, I can wait."

"Thank you." Rogue said, putting her prospective purchases to be scanned.

After paying the price, she didn't notice that Wells followed her with his eyes as she left the shop, frowning, as if trying to remember where he had seen her.

Rogue didn't noticed Wells interest on her, continuing her way. Irene's list had a few shops that she intended to visit, mostly to look clothes and restock her supplies of make-up that were running a bit low... had it been yesterday? It seemed like a long time ago...

She stopped for a moment and thought of Cody. Irene's had assured her that he would be fine, eventually. But, even with all that had happened yesterday, she hadn't even stopped to think of him on any moment. This killed her desire to go shopping further, so she called a taxi to go back to Ma Hunkel's place.

 

_S.T.A.R. Labs_

 

Harrison Wells had returned to the labs and after exchanging a few words with Cisco and Ronnie, he made himself scarce in order to check something in his secret room, where he had hidden the things he brought with himself from the future, as well as the A.I. Gideon.

 _"Welcome, professor Wells."_  the pleasant voice of the AI said as it booted.

"Gideon, I need to identify a girl I met in the music store." Wells paused, trying to remember something.

Gideon didn't answer, instead showing a video of Wells entering the music store.

"Yes, that is the store. Fast forward a bit." Wells ordered.

The image advanced quickly until the girl entered the screen. She was quite distinctive with that white streak on her hair.

"Try to get a good image of her face, and run it through your database of this era personalities." Wells said, frowning, "I have the feeling I have seen her before."

Gideon did not answer, as the AI tried to match the face to her records of many women of this era. After a couple seconds, while Wells tried to remember, it stopped, showing an image of the face of a woman, who clearly was a grown-up version of the girl, dressed up in some kind of green and yellow uniform, from which only the shoulders were visible.

 _"Her civilian identity is Marie Ba..."_  Gideon started to say, only to be interrupted by Wells.

"Yes, yes, Rogue. She is a mutant, one of the X-Men. I fought them, once or twice. " Wells said, deep in thought. "What is she doing here, on Central City?"

 _"Unknown, professor. Our records of the activities of the X-Men on this time period, before their public reveal, are very incomplete."_  Gideon said.

"Find where she is lodged, and then..." Wells started to say before stopping himself. "Just find her. I have to check something in person."

 _"Yes, professor."_  Gideon said.

 

_Ma Hunkel's Bed and Breakfast place_

 

Rogue was lying down on the bed of her room, brooding. She hadn't realized the implications of her powers until now. She had become some sort of living vampire, doomed to never know the touch of another human being.

She looked at Irene's first letter. Her reassurances that everything would work out at the end sounded hollow now, after she realized what her powers really entailed. Yes, she had always been a loner and a bit of an outcast, but it had been by choice. Now, her powers had robbed her of that choice.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock in the door.

"Honey, are you all right?" she heard the voice of Ma Hunkel through the door, "I saw you when you came, you looked like death warmed over and not in the usual Goth way."

"Ah'm fine, really." She said, trying to go for a perky voice to reassure her.

"That settles it. Honey, I'm coming in." Ma answered, opening the door with her own keys. Obviously her attempt to dissemble hadn't worked. Then Ma stood in the door and looked at her. "Come on, Rogue, you have been raised by Irene Adler, you should have learned to lie more convincingly."

"What?" Rogue said, as this had come completely out of the left field.

"She didn't tell you?" Ma said, looking at her. "I met her thirty years ago, when she tried to con me."

"That's why yah said Ah should have learned to lie better." Rogue said.

"'xactly. I didn't hold it against her, though." Ma said, lost in memories "We ended as friends, but that's too long a story to tell now."

She sat on the only chair on the room, in front of Rogue.

"What is important is that she called me this morning and told me that a Goth teen could be passing through here in short order." She continued "And here you are."

"And what else she said?" Rogue asked "Ah mean..."

"If you mean that if I know about her powers, yes, I do. They helped us when we got into a mess that time." Ma said. "And, by what you are saying, you probably had powers of some type too, do you?"

Rogue didn't answered immediately, trying to gauge what to say or not to say. It was moot, anyway, because Ma looked at her and said with a kind smile.

"Yes, you have them. It's written all over your face that you don't know what to tell me." Ma said, with a kind smile, "I guess that your powers are of a bad sort, right, honey?"

Rogue sighed and started to speak, her gaze firmly on the floor.

"Yeah, Ah can suck memories, skills and powers, if they have them, through skin contact. And Ah can't control it."

"My god." Ma said.

"The worst thing about it?" Rogue said "Ah discovered that Ah had them when Ah was kissing the first boy that had asked me on a date."

"Fuck." Ma said, which prompted a look from Rogue, who had heard her reprimand another guest for his liberal use of profanity earlier. "I'll clean my own mouth with soap later, honey."

The sheer incongruence of the phrase made Rogue snort. Ma Hunkel was old-fashioned, but not in a bad way. Not like that old lady, back ho... back at Irene's home, who pursed her lips each time they meet on the streets, because she didn't dare to try her fire and brimstone bullshit again after the verbal smack-down Irene gave her the only time she tried with them.

"What's so funny?" Ma Hunkel said, the twinkle in her eyes the only thing betraying she had done it on purpose to dispel the heavy atmosphere. "Okay, now that you aren't as depressed, can you come with me? I have something to show you."

Rogue followed Ma Hunkel, curious despite herself, to the attic, where Ma took the key ring she always carried on her and opened an old cupboard. Inside there was an old scrapbook, leather bound, with some kind of faded shield engraved on it. Ma opened it and leafed through it quickly, as if searching for something.

"Aha, here it is!" said Ma, taking a picture from the scrap book and showing it to Rogue. It was a black and white picture of a blonde woman in a tight black costume with a spider motif.

"Who is she?" asked Rogue.

"I met her in New York, she was a vigilante that fought specially the people who preyed on young women." Ma explained "A gang attacked me one night. I was still struggling when she appeared and started to throw them away. One of them managed to recover and jumped her with a knife, she tried to catch him, and I'll never forget what happened afterwards."

"What?"

"As soon as she had touched him, skin against skin, he started to scream as he started to rot from inside out." Ma said "She explained to me that one of her powers, besides super-strength and flight, was a 'touch of death' that wasn't entirely under her control. That's why she usually wore long gloves like the ones you are using, but in the fight they had been torn."

"And what happened to her?" Rogue asked.

"We kept in contact, but one day she disappeared. I heard that she was seen in Europe, but it has been many years." Ma said, with a shake of her head, "But the important thing, was that her powers didn't stop her from having a life, despite everything."

"Really?" Rogue said, clearly skeptic "Because that power sounds even worse than mine. Not to mention she killed that guy."

"She learned to control it, eventually. By the time she went to Europe, she was capable to do it at will." Ma said "And well, it was another time. The cops only did a cursory investigation, and not even his fellows saw what happened to him. Soon it was only just another one of the 'cold cases' in the Big Apple."

"When did that happen?" Rogue asked, curious despite herself, "And why nobody has talked about superpowered people before Iron Man?"

"That's a long story, honey, and besides, I only know part of it." Ma said with a sigh, and then she looked at the time "Tonight, I may tell you what I know, but it's getting late for supper."

 

_STAR Labs_

 

 _"Greetings, Professor Wells."_  Gideon said as the man got near its interface.

"Gideon, Hartley Rathaway. Is he still planning to sneak inside the lab tomorrow?" Wells said, without preamble.

 _"Yes, Professor Wells, he isn't showing any sign of deviating from his plan."_  Gideon informed.

"Good, I'm probably going to need the Piper to motivate Barry, eventually." Wells said, smiling as another part of the plan went ahead, "What about our erstwhile mutant?"

 _"She is lodged into Ma Hunkel's Bed and Breakfast Inn."_  Gideon answered.

"Dammit." he cursed softly, and the mused aloud "I can't do anything direct, it would attract the attention of the Society."

 _"Can you repeat the question?"_  Gideon said.

"It wasn't a question, I was just thinking aloud." Wells said absently, as he decided in a course of action, "Do the Friends of Humanity exist already on this time period?"

 _"No, according to records."_  Gideon said.

"But we have screwed the timeline enough that it may have some unexpected repercussions, the butterfly effect can be funny like that. Not to speak of the effects, intended or unintended, of other time travellers." Wells mused, "Check what some of its historical leaders are doing just now and compare with the historical database."

 _"Processing... Anomalies found."_  Gideon said,  _"Bolivar Trask and Graydon Creed have left SHIELD nearly a year before they did in the records. "_

"So a version of the Friends of Humanity could be already in existence." Wells said, nodding to himself, a plan already starting to take place in his mind, "Try to locate either of them, or any of their more notable lieutenants, like Stephen Lang."

 

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Chapter Three: Future Shock

> **Chapter Three: Future Shock**
> 
>   
>  **Disclaimer:**  all characters are property of their respective owners.
> 
>  **Spoilers:**  big spoilers for X-Men: Evolution season 1 episode "Rogue Recruit". Big spoilers for CW's The Flash season 1.
> 
> **Author Note:**  this version of Rogue and other X-Men related characters are from the X-Men Evolution cartoon, although with elements taken from the comics. Flash-related characters comes from CW's The Flash. Other Marvel, DC and Wildstorm character that may appear are drawn from several sources.
> 
> **A/N 2:**  I would appreciate feedback on the story, on how could be improved, or things that I have gotten wrong.
> 
> * * *
> 
>   
> 
> 
>   
> _The parking lot of a road-side inn somewhere in Mississippi_
> 
>   
>  Steven Lang looked at Alex Trent, who was screaming to his ex-wife on his cellphone, with distaste. Lang was a scientist who had worked closely with Trask, and Trask's mysterious benefactor, in developing countermeasures to the mutant problem. He respected Graydon Creed's zeal, even if he thought that Creed was a bit too blinded by his own rage at times. But Alex Trent? No, if it was on him, Trent would disappear, being exactly the kind of bigot the Friends of Humanity would be thought to be.
> 
> Trent suddenly stopped mid-tirade, and looked at the phone with a slightly stunned look.
> 
> "The bitch hung on me." He said, as he put the phone back in his pocket.
> 
> "What did you expect? You have been screaming at her for five minutes straight." Lang said, with a sarcastic tone, "Maybe if you weren't that big of an asshole, the court wouldn't have retired your visiting rights."
> 
> "Fuck you." Trent answered,
> 
> Lang didn't dignify that remark with an answer, turning away from the person he had been saddled with to go back inside to pay their bill when his own cellphone rang. He looked at the screen and saw that it was a hidden number. Nobody, other than the higher echelons of the FoH had this number, so who the hell could be calling him? He turned around again, going back to the parking lot to answer the phone, while signaling Trent to stay there.
> 
> "Who is this and how did you get this number?" he asked without preamble.
> 
> _"That is not important, Mister Lang."_  Somebody, speaking with an electronically distorted voice, answered,  _"What is important is that I know of the location of one of the mutants that managed to flee Mister Trent's ambush yesterday night."_
> 
> "Even if I knew what you are talking about..." he started to say.
> 
> _"Oh, please. Don't try to dissemble; I know a lot of things about you."_  The voice said,  _"You came to SHIELD full of ideals to protect humanity, only to find that, as always, politics reigned supreme and a good man you idolized was being thrown to the wolves. So, when he left you left with him, and now you and he are full of plans for a final solution to the mutant problem."_
> 
> "Listen a moment, you... you..." he started to say, hotly, having caught what the other man was implying immediately.
> 
> _"Ah, did I touch a nerve?"_  the voice said with a chuckle. 
> 
> "What do you fucking want, Mister Know-it-all?" he said, clenching his teeth.
> 
> _"As I said, I know of the location of one of the mutants, the teenage power drainer."_  The voice said, unperturbed. 
> 
> "And you are telling us this out of the goodness of your heart." Lang said, in a skeptical tone.
> 
> _"Hardly. I have my own motives."_  The voice said, and then he said an address  _"It's in Central City."_  And he hung up.
> 
> Lang swore for a few minutes, to the amused look of Trent. He glared at him, and went back inside to pay, before coming back out and calling headquarters.  
> 
> 
>   
> _Central City. Ma Hunkel's Inn. That night_
> 
>   
>  It was a bit late that night. By accident or design, Rogue had been the only guest to remain at the inn that night, so she and Ma were alone in the building when the young mutant went down the stairs to the living room were Ma Hunkel was knitting, sitting in a rocking chair.
> 
> "Mrs. Hunkel, I'm here." Rogue said.
> 
> "Call me Ma, honey." She said without lifting her eyes from the knitting needles. "Everybody calls me that, anyway."
> 
> "It's about what we talked earlier. About people with..."
> 
> "Powers? Special abilities?" she said "Yes, I remember. 'Mystery men', was how they were called back then. The term 'superhero' hadn't been coined yet, you see."
> 
> "And when was then?" Rogue said, curious.
> 
> "Another age, some people called it a Golden Age." Ma said, "I always thought of that name as nostalgic hogwash, though.”
> 
> "How so?"
> 
> "It was simply a time like any other, with bad and good things. You see..." she started to say when the telephone rang. "One moment."
> 
> "Ma Hunkel's Bed and Breakfast Inn, what can I do for you?" She said, "Hello, Fritz, so how things are going on Keystone?... Really?... Yes, that's worrying... No, I don't have any guest that looks like that." This final sentence was said looking at Rogue, who noticed the gesture. "I'll keep that in mind... Bye."
> 
> "What was that?" Rogue asked, after Ma had hung up.
> 
> "One moment, I have to make a call." Ma said. 
> 
> She keyed a number from memory and waited for the answer.
> 
> "Fred, it's Abby Hunkel... Yes, Ma Hunkel. Listen, I received a call from Fritz, in the Keystone office, about a fugitive that may be lodging here... No, she is not here, but that's the kind of thing that you usually manage, not Fritz... Really? That's odd. Fritz seemed convinced that it was real... See you."
> 
> "What was that?" Rogue repeated.
> 
> "Things are not safe for you here anymore, honey." Ma said, as she was writing in a notepad, "Collect your things, and go to this address." She ripped a leaf from the notepad and gave it to her, "It's the house of a friend that it's out of town right now."
> 
> Ma accompanied her to her room, to help her packing, as well as giving her a bit of an explanation.
> 
> "Fritz and Fred are the head of the FBI offices in Keystone City and Central City, respectively. Given that the cities are just across the river from each other, the usual procedure is for notices to one office to go also to the other."
> 
> "But from what I heard, that hasn't been the case." 
> 
> "Yes, and Irene warned me that the people after you may have contacts in Law Enforcement." Ma said, "Now call a taxi, and get to that address. Do you have some way to get in contact with Irene?"
> 
> "Not quickly." She shook her head, "She left a Post Office Box address and that is."
> 
> "Goddammit." Ma said. "Look, down the street there is a phone box. Call a taxi from there. I'll keep the FBI people busy."
> 
> "But you just have basically told the FBI guy that I'm not here." Rogue asked.
> 
> "Yeah, but Fritz is pretty by-the-book. He'll ask Fred for help and they'll send a few agents to look around and make a general nuisance of themselves in this neighborhood." Ma Hunkel said, "With luck, nobody will think to check there. Tomorrow, I'll go there to help you, but don't forget to check that P.O. Box."
> 
> They got out through the back door, and Rogue walked down the street toward the pay phone. Ma Hunkel went back to the kitchen to prepare a tea for herself. Just as she was doing that, she looked and saw a black car stopping before the inn, and two men in dark suits with sunglasses stepped out. Ma frowned; there hadn't been time for them to come here from the FBI office. They could have been doing anything closer to here, but the timing was very, very suspect.
> 
> The FBI agents were two young men, a crew-cut blond with a bodybuilder physique, while the other was a red-haired man with a swimmer physique and longer hair than his partner... 
> 
> Something was bothering her about those two. She had talked with a lot of G-men over the years, and these two... something about them was off, and it gave her a bad feeling. Well, thanks to Rex she had something better than long johns and a pot, if things went south. And fortunately the only guest tonight had been Rogue, so she shouldn't worry too much about people getting in the crossfire.  
> 
> 
>   
> ~~~~~~~
> 
>   
> "What do we know about this woman?" Trent asked, adjusting the necktie of his suit. Looking the part of a Fed irked him, given their part on the death of his father.
> 
> "Not much, she is a widow from New York, and she moved to Central City with her family 'round twenty-five years ago." Lang answered, checking his Smartphone for the data that have been sent from Central. "Hmmm... strange, it is almost as if she had suddenly appeared thirty years ago in NYC with her kids."
> 
> "Witness protection?" Trent asked.
> 
> "Maybe." Lang said, as they reached the porch of the inn.
> 
> After they rang, they could hear a muffled 'coming' from the back, and a couple minutes later, a sixty-something woman, dressed in a maroon robe over bright-yellow pajamas opened the door.
> 
> "Ma Hunkel Bed and Breakfast place. What can I do for you?" she said with a friendly smile.
> 
> "Abigail Matilda Hunkel?." Trent said, trying his best to sound official.
> 
> "That's me." She said, with a confused expression.
> 
> "I'm Agent Alexander, and this is Agent Stephens." Trent said, using the names in their fake FBI IDs. "We have received an anonymous tip that a fugitive could be lodging in your establishment."
> 
> "Yes, Fritz, from the FBI office in Keystone called me earlier." The woman said, "I didn't recognize the description he gave me, but if you have a picture..."
> 
> Trent and Lang looked to each other, clearly thinking the same thing. 'What the fucking hell?.' The real FBI wasn't supposed to know about this.
> 
> "Yes, yes. One moment." Trent said, getting his hand into his jacket, but no picture was produced. Instead, Ma Hunkel found herself looking at an 9 mm automatic pistol. "The girl, where is she?"
> 
> Ma Hunkel didn't panic when the crew-cut blonde aimed at her with a pistol. It wasn't the first time that she had been threatened by a gunman, and frankly, these two weren't all that scary compared to some of the people who had been after her in the past. 
> 
> She then noticed that the other man had pursed his lips when his partner had aimed the weapon at her. 'Interesting.' She thought. It seemed that these two weren't exactly in the same page. 
> 
> But it would be better to play along for now, maybe they would let slip something, so she opened her eyes wide and managed to say, faking a convincing frightened tone:
> 
> "But... but... I have told you the truth. No Goth teenager had been lodged here in the last days." she said, adding a shiver for effect, "A girl came this morning, but she didn't look like at all like that. And I didn't let her lodge here without a valid ID." 
> 
> They seemed to have swallowed it, as the blond muscle lowered the gun, before the other talked again.
> 
> "How did she look?" he asked.
> 
> "Green eyes, bottle blonde, wearing a gray turtleneck, jeans and boots." Ma said, lying through her teeth, "Ah, and she was carrying a backpack."
> 
> "Something else?" the redhead asked.
> 
> "No... Wait, she mumbled something about meeting somebody mid way or in Midway when she was leaving." Ma said.
> 
> "Midway Island? In the Pacific?" Blondie said
> 
> "No, probably Midway City, in Michigan." the redhead said. "Anything else, Mrs. Hunkel?."
> 
> "Nothing that I can recall." She said, and then added when the blonde raised his weapon again, "Really, I'm telling you the truth!."
> 
> "I believe you." Blondie said with an ugly smile, before shooting her twice in the chest. She fell on the floor, just before her seat.
> 
> "Godammit, Trent." Lang said. "Was that necessary?"
> 
> "Yeah, you heard her; she had friends in the local FBI office." Trent answered, with a shrug, "Better this that having the Feds after us."
> 
> "You deal with Trask after this. I guess he isn't going to be very happy with you." Lang said, rolling his eyes as he followed his partner toward the exit door.
> 
> They left Ma Hunkel lying on the floor, and it was not long before the car left the street. Ma took a deep breath when she heard them leaving and sat on the floor, examining the marks that the bullets had left on the bulletproof fabric of the bodysuit she was wearing under the pajamas. It hadn't penetrated it, but given the pain she was feeling, it was going to leave a couple of bruises. 
> 
> But at least she already had a name, Trask. She had to call Rex and Carter about this, before she went to join Rogue on Jay's safe house.  
> 
> 
>   
> _Keystone City._
> 
>   
>  The taxi arrived to the address that Ma had given her, a small apartment building just outside a zone of the city that seemed to be completely surrounded by thick concrete walls. She shrugged and went to the second floor.
> 
> The apartment was well kept, although the furniture looked to be a bit old, as was the TV in the living room. One of the rooms seemed to be a complete chemical lab, weirdly enough, and the books seemed to be all science related, except for a single and a dog-eared old-looking copy of a book called "Behind the Mask", by a guy called John Law.
> 
> She lied down on the bed, thinking about what she had to do tomorrow. The idea of going to Topeka didn't appeal to her, but frankly, with the FBI going after her, she didn't have many options, other than trust what Irene had ready for her. Maybe tomorrow Irene would have sent something. She closed her eyes. It had been a long day, and sleep soon claimed her...  
> 
> 
>   
> _She stood inside a cathedral-like building made of crystal. A young black haired man with the bluest eyes she had ever seen, dressed in a flannel shirt, a burgundy leather jacket, and jeans was talking to her, but she couldn't hear the words, because of the intense cold she was feeling. The man bopped his forehead, and removed his jacket, putting it over her shoulders. When he did that, she felt... safe, and looked back at him with a smile in her lips..._
> 
> He was gone, as it was the crystalline building, and the jacket. But she was not feeling the cold anymore. She was in a fighting stance against a dark haired woman, who smirked and attacked her faster than she believed possible. She could barely block her and the hit hurt a lot. She braced herself for the next hit...
> 
> The girl was nowhere to be seen now; instead she was in a dark corridor, stepping back from some kind of purple... slimy... thing, with glowing red eyes that extended a dripping hand to her. Suddenly the hand was on her shoulder and she screamed...
> 
>   
> ...Just to awake in the bed with Ma Hunkel trying to wake her.
> 
> "Sorry, a nightmare." Rogue said, and by the light that filtered through the window it was already early in the morning. "What time is it?"
> 
> "7:30, and I called one of my sons to take care of the inn this morning." Ma said.
> 
> "Did the FBI agents arrive?" Rogue asked, as they walked to the small kitchen.
> 
> "Twice. The first time they were fakes, probably the same people that are after you and Irene." Ma said, serving herself a cup of tea, "The second time, I repeated what I told the fake agents and informed them that somebody that identified themselves as FBI agents had come to visit here. As they were leaving, Fred called and told me that it had been some hacker sending a fake warning, as the central office has no record of sending it."
> 
> "And do you believe it?"
> 
> "Well, the fakes seemed to be surprised that I had received a call from the local FBI office." Ma said, "And you?"
> 
> "Fine, actually. What's the history of the walled area, though? There is nothing inside." Rogue said, curious.
> 
> "It happened a decade ago. A couple blocks of the city simply disappeared overnight." Ma said, "Nobody knows what happened there. After months of investigation some Federal agency dictated that it would be better to simply wall the zone off, citing some bullshit story about radiation."
> 
> "You don't believe the story about radiation." Rogue said.
> 
> "Before the Feds cordoned the area Ted, a friend who is also an astrophysicist told me that the radiation levels were completely normal." Ma said, "But the Feds are still keeping watch over it, for no reason that I can discern."
> 
> "And that's all? Nobody is doing anything?" Rogue said, "How many people were lost?"
> 
> "Too many. All my family was spared, thanks God, but I lost a couple of good friends, Jay and his wife Joan."
> 
> "But..." she started to say, but whatever she was going to say was lost, when the doorbell interrupted them.
> 
> They looked at each other, wondering who it could be. Ma went to look through the peephole to see who it was.
> 
> "Mercury Messages?" she said, with a confused expression. She left the chain on and opened the door.
> 
> "Abigail Hunkel?" said the message boy.
> 
> "Yes? Who it is?"
> 
> "I have a package for you, from a... Sherrell Moriarty?" the messenger said.
> 
> She opened the door, took the package, and signed on the order. After he went his way, Ma closed the door and brought the package to the kitchen table.
> 
> "Who is Sherrell Mo...?" Rogue said, trailing off when she noticed the name combination; "It's from Irene, isn't it? She loves her Sherlock Holmes references."
> 
> "Yeah, and besides, that was the name she was using when I met her." Ma said as she opened the package.
> 
> Inside there was another note, a bus ticket and a cellphone. Rogue took the note before Ma could do anything about it, and started to read it silently.  
> 
> 
>   
> _Dear Marie, the Walled Area in Keystone City is something that nobody can resolve in the present. But, don't worry, the person who will undo what happened will appear soon, like a bolt from the blue._
> 
> The bus ticket is for the last bus out of Central City today, take it. And the cellphone has in the memory a few numbers of people who can help you, if you are in trouble in Kansas.
> 
> Another thing, this is the last time you will hear of me for a long while, other than the letter that I'll send you to Topeka just before I leave. There is a person I must talk with, about something that I have seen in the future, and try to talk him out of something he is planning to do.
> 
> Love, Irene
> 
>   
> "Spooky, isn't it." Ma said after Rogue finished reading the note.
> 
> "How do you know what Irene wrote there?" Rogue asked
> 
> "I don't know, but it's not the first time she does the note thing, sending one what you were thinking about in that moment" Ma said, "So what does she says?"
> 
> "In short, that the walled area is not my concern and that she may be out of contact for a while." Rogue said, "So, what we do now?"
> 
> "I'm going to buy a set of less distinctive clothes for you. Those people may still be watching the stations." 
> 
> "...Fine." Rogue said, sitting in an armchair. Meanwhile, Ma Hunkel said goodbye as she got out the door.
> 
> She took her a notebook, remembering Irene's caution about the visions and started to list all what she remembered about last night dreams. While she was doing this, she started to sketch in the margins, some of the things she remembered. Progressively, the sketches became bigger and bigger, until she found herself with a full page picture of the boy that had given her a jacket in that icy place.
> 
> When she had finished, she looked at the picture with amazement, and a bit amount of fear. She had never been able to draw beyond stick figures, but Cody had won several contests with his skills. And it wasn't only his skills. She looked at the writing, that started recognizable as her own, but over what she had written it wavered between Irene's clear and precise handwriting, Cody's sloppy, though readable, one, and her own tighter, rounder letters.
> 
> It had been completely unconscious on her part, as if pieces of Cody and Irene lingered somewhere in her. If this happened every time... she shuddered, the thought of losing herself to the fragments of different people she absorbed terrified her, and the only thing that prevented her from bolting out was Irene reassurance that everything would work out at the end.
> 
> **TO BE CONTINUED....**


End file.
